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Quotes about freedom

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No one can be perfectly free till all are free; no one can be perfectly moral till all are moral; no one can be perfectly happy till all are happy.
Herbert Spencer1820–1903Social Statics (1851), Pt. IV, Ch. 30: General Considerations
- Happiness
- Morality
Every man is free to do that which he wills, provided he infringes not the equal freedom of any other man.
Herbert Spencer1820–1903The Principles of Ethics (1897), Part IV: The Ethics of Social Life: Justice, Ch. 6, The Formula of Justice
And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected.
John Steinbeck1902–1968East of Eden (1952), Part 2, Ch. 13
- Thinking
We are talking about a society in which there will be no roles other than those chosen, or those earned. We are really talking about humanism.
Gloria Steinem1934–2026“Address to the Women of America” (10 July 1971)
- Women
Freedom is not an ideal, it is not even a protection, if it means nothing more than freedom to stagnate, to live without dreams, to have no greater aim than a second car and another television set.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965“Putting First Things First”, Foreign Affairs (January 1960)
A free society is one where it is safe to be unpopular.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Speech in Detroit, Michigan (7 October 1952)
When an American says that he loves his country, he means not only that he loves the New England hills, the prairies glistening in the sun, the wide and rising plains, the great mountains, and the sea. He means that he loves an inner air, an inner light in which freedom lives and in which a man can draw the breath of self-respect.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Speech to the American Legion convention, New York City (27 August 1952); as quoted in “Democratic Candidate Adlai Stevenson Defines the Nature of Patriotism” in Lend Me Your Ears: Great Speeches In History (2004) by William Safire, p. 81—82
- America
What do I believe? As an American I believe in generosity, in liberty, in the rights of man.
Adlai Stevenson II1900–1965Essay in This I Believe: 2 (1952) edited by Edward R. Murrow, p. 142
- America
- Liberty
You long for freedom? You fools! If you took might, freedom would come of itself.
Max Stirner1806–1856The Ego and Its Own (1844), Cambridge 1995 ed., p. 151
- Power
The men of the future will yet fight their way to many a liberty that we do not even miss.
Max Stirner1806–1856The Ego and Its Own (1844), Cambridge 1995 ed., p. 114
- Liberty
The freer the people, the more bound the individual.
Max Stirner1806–1856The Ego and Its Own (1844), Cambridge 1995 ed., p. 190
Junk journalism is the evidence of a society that has got at least one thing right, that there should be nobody with the power to dictate where responsible journalism begins.
Tom Stoppard1937–2025Night and Day (1978), Act I
- Journalism
Whipping and abuse are like laudanum; you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811–1896Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Volume II, Chapter XXIn context
- Slavery
The number of those men who know how to use wholly irresponsible power humanely and generously is small. Everybody knows this, and the slave knows it best of all
Harriet Beecher Stowe1811–1896Uncle Tom’s Cabin (1852), Volume II, Chapter XXIXIn context
- Power
- Slavery
Torture was necessary to maintain slavery. It was integral to slavery. You cannot have slavery without some torture or the threat of torture; and you cannot have torture without slavery.
Andrew Sullivanborn 1963“Slavery and Torture”, The Daily Dish (23 February 2007)
- Slavery